Blados
|corecolor = |bordercolor = |name = Blados |image = |element = Darkness |hometown = Tuaparang |role = Antagonist |hair = Green |eyes = Red |weapons = Ōdachi |spaname = Spatha |frename = Pik }}Blados is an antagonist along with his partner Chalis in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. The two together are commanders from a secretive military nation named Tuaparang, and drops in on Matthew at several points in the game. Spade, his Japanese name, likely refers to the playing card suit of the same name. This is supported by the spade symbol that adorns his armor and greaves. His English name refers to the equivalent suit of swords or blades in the Minor Arcana of tarot. Biography Blados and Chalis are two of the more powerful members of a clan that no one on Weyard knew existed, the Umbra Clan. These people are similar to the Adepts of the other clans; however, while the other clans are devoted to the four great Elements that comprise all physical matter of Weyard, the Umbra Clan has somehow tapped into Darkness, one of the other two values that helps complete reality. This makes Blados an example of what can literally be called a Dark Adept. The Tuaparang empire, as lorded over by one High Empyror, is described as the "scions" of the Umbra Clan, as in "descendants", and this technologically-advanced, military-focused nation appears on Weyard amidst at least one giant, flying airship within the thirty-year time frame between The Lost Age and Dark Dawn. Blados, like the other Adepts of the Umbra Clan, serves the High Empyror and his empire, and he and Chalis have received the positions as commanders of the Tuaparang. Blados has established his reputation as a warlike swordsman who is known in his homeland by the callsign "The Blade". The High Empyror's goal by the time Dark Dawn takes place is the acquisition of the ancient light-based apparatus called the Apollo Lens, which is situated at the highest peak of the Khiren Mountains that divide Angara into equivalent halves. Just as the ancient peoples of Weyard's past had tried to gain control over the fundamentals of Darkness, they had attempted to control Light as well, and the Apollo Lens is one product of their research - a giant, sealed cannon-like superweapon that can fire an aimable beam of amplified light at a target. Gaining control of this weapon is easier said than done: the Apollo Lens can only be reached, unsealed, and made operable with three elusive Colored Orbs that are designed as keys, and the external power source to it is a pair of ancient Alchemy Machines located in Angara's southern Ei-Jei region, the Alchemy Forge and the Alchemy Well, and they have to both be turned on and made operable in order to serve that purpose. Not only that, a legend holds that the Apollo Lens will only open up once a phenomenon named the Grave Eclipse is triggered. The Grave Eclipse is a giant Darkness-generating effect that is emitted from the Eclipse Tower north of the Lens once the Alchemy Machine sealing it, the Alchemy Dynamo, is turned on and the subterranean tower rises out of the ground. Finally, the various ancient dungeons located throughout Angara that are connected to these secrets all contain riddles and hints presented in a glyph language indecipherable to all but whoever is chosen by the Konpa Ruins in southwest Angara to obtain special knowledge. At some point before the start of Dark Dawn, a powerful Mercury Adept Alex ends up joining Blados and Chalis' circle. He receives the codename "Arcanus", linking him to the codenames of Blados and Chalis because they all correspond to suits of a deck of fortune-telling cards sometimes used in Weyard. "Arcanus", in particular, matches the highest-ranking cards in the deck, which Alex seems to view as significant. From the beginning, Blados does not like Alex and his superior tone. At the Konpa Ruins, Blados and Arcanus find that having recently entered the ruins is a group of Adepts led by the young Venus Adept Matthew, son of the famous leader of the Warriors of Vale, Isaac, who is out on a quest across Angara to find a feather of the giant bird roosting at the northeastern corner of Angara, the Mountain Roc. They both receive the High Empyror's order not to inflict harm on Matthew, and to instead make use of Matthew and have him carry out essentially every one of their purposes, which will ultimately result in the activation of the Apollo Lens. The High Empyror lets his subordinates choose their own methods to accomplish this goal with Matthew, but specifies that they are to let Matthew live until he has played his part. Kraden is with Matthew, so Blados and Arcanus enact a scheme to split Kraden from Matthew's group and make Matthew's group turn on the Alchemy Machines for them. While Kraden, his two pupils Rief and Nowell, and Matthew's group inspect a Psynergy Vortex pulsating above a strange machine, Blados tests Matthew's group by sending three of his men to battle them, while he and Arcanus kidnap Rief. When Matthew's group manages to dispatch the well-trained soldiers, Blados expresses surprise that the rumors about these young Adepts from Vale being already quite powerful are true, and then expresses that he will have to reveal himself because they already saw that machine. Arcanus verifies that Matthew has been entrusted with the Glyph Book - this is what makes Matthew eligible for Blados and Arcanus to make use of - and Blados is surprised to hear that it was Matthew who obtained it in the end. He and Arcanus proceed to lower themselves down to view from above so that Blados can taunt them from a safe vantage point. Blados and Arcanus use Rief to manipulate Matthew and his friends into taking the south exit into the Ei-Jei region while Kraden takes the north exit into the closed-off Bilibin region. Then, Blados seals off the exit behind them by having his men use explosives, and tells them he will be letting them go now. During his antagonistic interactions with the Adepts, Blados addresses Matthew's friend, Karis, as the daughter of Ivan, and expresses that, on this basis, she "might" be a worthy adversary for Blados some day. He soon lets it slip that he has been given orders to let the Adepts live until they played their parts, but assures that they won't be lucky and get him to mistakenly leak more information. He proceeds to them that they are now geographically trapped within the Ei-Jei region of Angara, and that if they hope to make it into the Morgal region, where Matthew's original goal to get a feather lies, they will have to find passage over the Khiren Mountains. After bidding farewell to them as the children of Vale's greatest warriors, Blados and his men retreat using wrist-mounted arm-like cables to scale nearby cliffs effortlessly. As per what Blados and his ilk had anticipated, diverting Matthew's course into the Ei-Jei region and establishing to him that they would need to cross over the Khiren Mountains up north prompts Matthew and his party of Adepts to begin investigating the Alchemy Machines that they find would create the cloud passage across Khiren Mountains once both turned on. Chalis, elsewhere in Ei-Jei, fulfills her role and subtly has Matthew guided along this goal. Through Matthew's unwitting services, both Alchemy Machines are turned on and made operational, and power is brought to the Apollo Lens in advance. The first phase of Blados and his peers' plans for Matthew is complete. One of the many effects the Golden Sun event had on the world was to mutate populations of its denizens, both human and animal, into hybrid beastmen. These originally scattered people were hated by the rest of humanity, but they coalesced into a unified nation that claimed the upper half of Angara, the Morgal region, as their territory, and their capital city of Belinsk was built upon the ancient ruins in the center of their region that happens to lead to the cataclysmic secret of the Alchemy Dynamo and Eclipse Tower. With Eclipse Tower's activation being their next overarching objective, Blados, Chalis, and Arcanus approach the beastman king, Volechek, who grants them his full attention because he has a deep-rooted respect for powerful warriors. Morgal's bloody history and Volechek's personal past were shaped by military conflict between itself and the empire of Sana down south, in which Sana, as ruled by the warmongering Emperor Ko at the time, aggressively invaded it, killed Volechek's parents, and subjected the beastmen of Morgal to ten long years of slavery. Volechek only managed to liberate his kingdom through a civil war which drove the Sanans out. Volechek's vendetta is not limited to Sana; Bilibin to the west refused to lend help. With this in mind, the trio have an easy time gaining Volechek's personal alliance without him suspecting that they are making use of him for Tuaparang's own purposes. Blados and his two peers lie to Volechek that the secret under Belinsk is an ancient weapon that he can use to subjugate both Sana and Bilibin before they attempt to return Morgal to slavery, and they offer to conspire together to get it unsealed. It is somehow known between them that necessary to power the Alchemy Dynamo and release Eclipse Tower is a naturally-occurring jewel-like sphere that forms within the innards of the Mountain Roc that Matthew's party happens to be aiming for, the Magma Orb. They know that the Roc sleeps in the composition of stone, and that it can only be brought out of stone form by waking it up with the unique Slapping Psynergy that both Volechek and his royal lineage inherently know and which is imbued into a national treasure of Belinsk, the Slap Gloves. Recently, Volechek had captured and imprisoned the princess of his hated enemy of Sana, Hou Ju, within his own castle, and Volechek publicly sets an execution date for Hou Ju to be the upcoming full moon and the festival in Belinsk it accompanies. The conspirators also know about Volechek's wayward sister, Sveta, and her sympathy to Hou Ju's plight. Hou Ju's brother, the Sanan prince Ryu Kou, and his mentor, Hou Zan, lead a group of mercenaries on an assault on Belinsk Castle, and Volechek drives them back - but he lets them escape with ease. By this point, Volechek and his conspirators have concocted their plan: knowing how Sveta would want to help Hou Ju and is herself currently in possession of the Slap Glove, they know that Sveta would come after Hou Ju's brother and give him the glove to help him on his next effort to get to and free Hou Ju - the other critical function of the Slap Glove is that it opens the way into Belinsk Ruins, and these ruins, in addition to leading to the Alchemy Dynamo below, also provide an underground route into the interior of Belinsk Castle from below. Naturally, this secretive way is what they understand Ryu Kou would be intending to use on his second attempt to save his captive sister. The conspirators also know that Sveta would direct Ryu Kou to Matthew and his group of combat-hardened warriors to help him out. Because Matthew's group, whom Sveta had already encountered by that point, is headed toward Talon Peak to retrieve their feather from the Roc, and because Matthew would be unable to get the feather without the Slap Glove, the conspirators know that Sveta would have Ryu Kou join with Matthew and accompany the warriors to the Mountain Roc's roost before they would go into Belinsk Ruins together. With this scenario plotted out, the conspirators have Volechek additionally capture and slate the pirate Eoleo for execution, just so that Matthew will be all the more motivated to get involved in the effort to free Volechek's two captives. Blados and Chalis proceed to dispatch themselves to the top of Talon Peak where the stone Roc lies sleeping, and proceed to wait however long it takes for Matthew and Ryu Kou's combined group to climb up to the peak to take care of their business. The duo intends to make Matthew and Ryu Kou additionally obtain the Magma Sphere and bring that with them when they would enter the Belinsk Ruins. Blados and Chalis apparently wait long enough for Matthew to arrive that they start to get concerned, but sure enough, Matthew, Ryu Kou, and their respective companions climb to the top of Talon Peak, awaken and knock out the Mountain Roc, and retrieve one of its feathers. Blados prevents everyone from "leaving so soon" and shows himself and Chalis for the first time in a while. Their conversation with the group leads Ryu Kou and Hou Zan to deduce how Volechek letting them escape from Belinsk Castle was part of a plan that involved setting up this trap for them here at Talon Peak. Blados and Chalis soon reveal that they want the warriors to obtain the Magma Orb, and the duo find that the Waelda of nearby Kolima Forest, Tret and Laurel, had spoken with Matthew earlier about Belinsk Ruins and the allegedly ancient Alchemy Machine inside it, but had not told them that it was a full Magma Orb that was needed to power it up. Matthew and Ryu Kou discover that Blados and Chalis want them to power up this dangerous machine for a sinister purpose, but the duo secure their eventual willingness to do this by stating that if they don't, both Hou Ju and Eoleo will lose their lives. Blados and Chalis' last words before leaving are to instruct them to kill the Mountain Roc for the Magma Orb, and then bring the orb to Belinsk. The Mountain Roc awakens just then and attacks them, and Matthew and his Adept companions engage it and slay it in a fierce battle. Blados and Chalis return to Volechek's castle, and they, Arcanus, and some more of Blados' soldiers proceed down into Belinsk Ruins from the castle itself. They, in the ruins, and Volechek in the castle above employ mysterious mechanisms that control which of the various hallways are blocked off, so that when Matthew, Ryu Kou, and Sveta all join together just inside the ruins' entrances from outside the castle, their intended route into the castle above is now blocked off, forcing them all down to the Alchemy Dynamo below. When Blados' group comes across a chess-like puzzle that requires time and painstaking positioning to pass, they decide to barrel their way through their brute force, though the soldiers are killed in the encounter. Blados, Chalis, and Arcanus wait in hiding off to the side until Matthew's extended group open their way into the core of the Alchemy Dynamo, and until then they consider offering them some help, but decide against it. Blados, Chalis, and Arcanus enter in behind them and order Matthew's group to place the Magma Orb in the machine, and Blados and Chalis quickly decide to show them in advance what will happen if they don't comply by engaging them in battle. Blados demonstrates his fierce swordsmanship alongside Chalis' clawing action, but both of them are defeated by the young Adepts. While Blados admits he did underestimate Matthew and the Adepts' superior numbers, he states that the metaphorical war has been won in the end: Arcanus successfully emotionally manipulates Ryu Kou into giving the Magma Orb to the Alchemy Dynamo to activate it. As the chamber trembles and Eclipse Tower rises out from behind Belinsk Castle, Arcanus picks up Blados and Chalis and warps out with them to safety. By this point, Blados happens to be in possession of the Blue Orb. Arcanus, Blados, and Chalis avoid being endangered by what happens soon after: Weyard's sun rises up and situates itself behind Luna, the moon, and the light Sol exudes starts getting siphoned by the tower, causing the tower to project and maintain a colossal, semi-spherical dome of purplish dark energy that stretches across most of Angara. This is the Grave Eclipse, and its cataclysmic effects are immediately apparent: an infinite array of shadow creatures manifest from the shadows and begin slaughtering many of Angara's people, including Belinsk's own. When it dawns on Volechek that he was tricked and used by the Tuaparang and that his people are now tragically suffering for it, he manages to steal the Blue Orb from Blados' possession and hurls it toward Matthew's group as they retreat from Belinsk by ship. Volechek hopes that in doing so, Matthew's party will some how be able to use it against Tuaparang. Unknown to Volechek and Matthew's party, giving Matthew the Blue Orb, and by extension all of the Colored Orbs, is precisely what Blados and his two conspirators would want as part of their plan for Matthew. Volechek nobly puts his life on the line to oppose the three that manipulated him, but he eventually falls. Blados and Chalis proceed to collect Volechek and "save" him by making use of sinister experiments to artificially mutate and warp both Volechek's body and mind, turning him into a werewolf-like monster infused with Dark Psynergy. Blados and his two companions' successful plot to unseal Eclipse Tower and trigger the Grave Eclipse it entails has at least two apparent purposes: to trigger the Apollo Lens into opening up as per what the legend about it holds, and to motivate Matthew's group into finding and setting up the Apollo Lens in an attempt to stop the eclipse. Whether the mass death wrought by the Grave Eclipse is part of their or their Empyror's plan specifically is not clear. When Matthew's group resolves to find the other Colored Orbs for this purpose, they do not realize that, yet again, they are doing what Blados and his peers intend of them. To this end, Arcanus goes to the capital of Sana, Tonfon - the empire that Matthew would have to pass through while on his way toward the Apollo Sanctum - and approaches its modern-day emperor, the benevolent Unan. He tells Unan of Matthew's arrival in advance, gives him the Red Orb, and instructs him to give the Orb to Matthew. Events happen as Arcanus predicts, and Matthew's party uses the two Colored Orbs now in their possession to locate and obtain the third. Then, as would be expected, Matthew's party brings the complete set with them as they scale the mountains toward Apollo Sanctum. At the peak of the sanctum, Matthew uses the Colored Orbs to set up the giant cannon-like lens and point it toward Eclipse Tower. Blados and Chalis, whether from the start or by this point, intend to claim the Apollo Lens not for the High Empyror, but for themselves, possibly to use against the Empyror and/or the Tuaparang Empire. When they make their move and fly their dropship above the Lens to deposit both themselves and their Umbra Clansmen, Blados asks Arcanus, who had arrived at the lens before them, why he is not killing all of Matthew's group now like they had previously agreed on. Arcanus, as Alex, however, tells them as well as Matthew's group of Adepts that the High Empyror sent Alex personally to make sure that the Apollo Lens was used according to the Empyror's own plan, and that Blados and Chalis were left out because the Empyror distrusts the two. Blados and Chalis remain silent as Alex proceeds to antagonize the duo by revealing various sensitive secrets: he reveals how they and their men are Dark Adepts belonging to a self-styled Umbra Clan, notes that the Dark Adepts are not really "Tuaparang" soldiers because of this, and insinuates that as such, Blados and Chalis may plan on using the lens against the Tuaparang empire itself, which is apparently within the same trajectory as the area around Sol Sanctum at this point in time. Blados and Chalis announce their intention to keep these secret by eliminating Alex, as well as Matthew's group, and Alex instructs Matthew to throw the switch for the Apollo Lens and end the Grave Eclipse - it is not known if this is part of the Empyror's own plan for the Lens, or if this goes against it. Alex engages Blados and Chalis in a brief one-on-two battle out of sight. For whatever reason, Alex does not prevent Blados and Chalis from eventually coming back to the Apollo Lens and preventing Matthew and company from firing the Apollo Lens at Eclipse Tower. They bring the bestial, monstrous Volechek, referred to as the Chaos Hound, as their battle pet, and they thank Matthew profusely for letting the greatest weapon of the ancient world fall into their own hands, before they and their pet attack the eight Adepts with the intent to kill. Matthew's party has become surprisingly strong by this point, for they manage to beat their three opponents back. Not pleased that a bunch of children are beating the elite of the Tuaparang Empire, Blados and Chalis fall back to their alternate plan, and call on the power of Dark Binding. The Chaos Hound is drenched with the energies of the Grave Eclipse, but both of them suddenly find themselves getting pulled into the Chaos Hound's body like a vacuum, and while they didn't intend for this initially, Blados agrees with Chalis that they must allow themselves to be absorbed because they cannot allow Matthew to win against them. Blados, Chalis, and the Chaos Hound merge and mutate into a horrific, multi-armed monstrosity of terrible dark power, and Blados' enlarged right arm and katana comprise the monster's upper right arm. Matthew's party rushes into their most harrowing and nightmarish battle. Matthew and his seven companions miraculously manage to best the monstrosity in battle, and it separates back into Blados, Chalis, and the Chaos Hound's defeated forms. Blados merely says that he and Chalis lose, and then Sveta is shocked to discover that the Chaos Hound is in fact Volechek, who Sveta believed previously died at Belinsk. The defeated Dark Adepts proceed to explain what they did to Volechek and how they had tried to twist his mind so that he could fight his own sister. They then reveal that as Volechek is now a creature of darkness, he won't be able to live in the Adepts' world of light, and that what they did cannot be undone because Volechek wouldn't survive another big shock to his system. On Sveta's urging, Matthew makes repeated attempts to climb onto the controls of the Apollo Lens to use it, but the oppressive amounts of Light energy flowing at the top knocks him back. The Dark Adepts tell them that because Matthew is attempting to go into the very heart of the light, he won't survive it because he doesn't have enough of a dark side. They then reveal that had they won against Matthew, they would have sent Volechek up there to get rid of him when he played his part. Sveta agrees to be the one to go up there and Matthew agrees to be the one to support her, and wills his vitality out of his body to empower Sveta's own through a mysterious process. The two go up intending to sacrifice themselves together to end the Grave Eclipse, but suddenly Volechek gets back up and knocks them both back down. The Adepts momentarily think Blados and Chalis' original plan is proceeding and that they have lost, but Blados suddenly affirms that Volechek has snapped out of it because he had seen his sister in danger, and is now about to give his life for his sister and his people. Volechek spiritually bids Sveta farewell as he selflessly sacrifices himself to fire the Apollo Lens at Eclipse Tower, ending the Grave Eclipse that wrought so much death and despair across Angara. Much of what happens after this is not known, including what happens with Blados and Chalis - whether they were left behind to die or were collected. Matthew's party leaves Apollo Sanctum to return to Belinsk, leaving the Apollo Lens behind. It is unknown whether it is left in a state that allows the Tuaparang Empire headed by the High Empyror to make it amount to further threat, or if it is not able to be used anymore. Alex's status following this, including whether he remains affiliated with the High Empyror and the Tuaparang Empire, is unknown - while Alex gave Matthew's party the critical opportunity to defeat Blados and Chalis and use the Apollo Lens to end the Grave Eclipse, it is not known whether this goes against the Empyror's plans for the Lens. In doing this, Alex had ultimately helped ensure that the traitorous Dark Adept commanders Blados and Chalis not use the Lens against the Tuaparang Empire. Skills Blados is a skilled swordsman, able to bring swift death to his enemies with his lightning fast sword technique named Punish that may instantly kill his target. He also uses fire crackers and spark shurikens to attack multiple targets as well as psy granades to slowly drain his enemies of their psynergy. He is also able to increase his and his partners defenses using Shadow Shield. Trivia *Despite no obvious relation, Blados bares an eerie resemblance to Saturos from the first Golden Sun. Both have blue skin, red eyes, a blue-green mohawk, and wield swords in battle. *Interestingly, an ōdachi (大太刀?), was a type of long Japanese sword that bears significant resemblance to the sword, Ōdachi, used by Blados in-game. *Blados, along with Chalis, are the first characters in the Golden Sun series to have audible voices. Blados grunts when he uses Punish, and Chalis giggles when she uses Scornful Caress. External links *9/30/2010 Jump Magazine reveal, with translation. Category:Characters Category:Characters in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Category:Antagonists